Food from the garden

We're eating a lot of vegetables from the garden now. For dinner we had chicken tenders (not from the garden) with creamed potatoes and peas, yellow squash and onions, and green beans ALL picked fresh from the garden on Saturday evening. I can't wait for the corn! We have also eaten thus far: tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, strawberries and carrots. And the cucumbers are almost ready, as are the apricots and Lodi apples. We feel so blessed to be able to eat this fresh, organic, delicious and inexpensive food. (even if it does take a lot longer to prepare a meal)

Harder than I thought

It's now 1:00 AM and I have spent hours working on this blogspot. I couldn't seem to get my pictures from Picassa to where I was able to post them. Finally, I got them on the Desktop and then it was a piece of cake. I thought this would be easier for me than it is, so I hope everyone realizes that this is still a "work in progress." Tips and suggestions are always appreciated.

Boise weekend trip

We crammed a lot into our 3-day weekend in the Boise area. When we got to Scott's house Saturday afternoon, he offered to let us take his 67 Mustang to Will's 50th high schol reunion. Will was in heaven to be driving what was once his Mustang until Scott bought it from us to help finance our mission. The reunion went so much better than Will had expected. Everyone seemed so glad to see "Willie" again and had many good memories of him. He especially enjoyed seeing his old friend Mark Hoagland and his wife Marie. (He used to date Marie's sister.)

But on the way home from the reunion our brakes completely disappeared. Will shifted down and coasted to a stop on the side of the road. We called Will, Jr. first since we were pretty close to his house. He didn't answer, so we left a message explaining our situation. Then we called Scott. He had already gone to bed since he gets up so very early to go to work (and they had had an emergency need of him Sunday, even tho he had gotten the day off). But he grabbed some brake fluid and got there unbelievably fast. (He was either anxious to get back to bed or to be sure his Mustang was OK.) And right after he drove up, so did Will. (That's one way for them to get to see each other.) Once the fluid started circulating the brakes were fine and we drove over to Will's house and visited like crazy until midnight. Ally finally fell asleep on Will's lap, but Duke never did.

We spent the night at Scott's house and I woke up the next morning at 6:00 am to see Matt playing a computer game. It was so good to be with Matt and Scottie again.
Shawn showed up before church and we all went together. Scott and I both got up at the same time to bear our testimonies. He started off with a little bit of humor, saying that of people's top 10 fears, public speaking was number one and DEATH was number two. But despite his discomfort he did a wonderful job of sharing some special feelings with his family (as well as another little joke about reading 1st Nephi about 30 times with his family.)

During Priesthood meeting, we all met with the Aaronic Priesthood leaders and boys (Carrie and her parents came, too) and Scott ordained his son a deacon. Oh, and I also got to watch Matt clean up the Sacrament things after Sacrament Meeting.

After dinner we played Clue (Matt's choice)and he would have won, but Scott had apparently not showed him one of his weapon cards earlier when Matt was suggesting who had killed whom. (We were pretty busy talking and explaining the game to the newbies) so Cindy wound up winning.

The next morning we did some shopping together, took pictures and then Will and I drove to Emmett to visit his sister Cathy. After that we hurried off to Mountain Home for his sister Melva's 70th birthday party cookout. There was a ton of food, lots of visiting and then we were off to the races again (or rather off to Blackfoot) because we were working in the temple Tuesday morning.

We sure crammed a lot of experiences and special memories into that weekend.

Proofreading

I guess one should always proof/edit/preview one's blogs. I am horrified to see all the typos in my last one because I was in a hurry and cut out that step. Sorry.

The 4th of July was spent doing garden and yard work and then going to Pocatello to do a little shopping and eat at Applebee's with Emily. I would love to go to
Idaho Falls for the fireworks, but - since we're going to Boise for a few days and leaving Saturday morning, I think that is trying to do too much for these two senior citizen.

Camping and Yellowstone

A 3-day trip to Yellowstone and Park became a 2-day trip. Life is never as simple when traveling with a 2 year old girl named Bailey. It was fun to introduce to finding snow up on top of "Snowy Mt." (Sawtelle Peak) and feeding the fish and chasing the seagulls at Big Springs (she loved chasing the seagulls away). The next day we drove through Yellowstone Park and Bailey kept looking for swings and slides - because she was sure a park had to have them somewhere. However, we did go to little Black Sands Basin with its small, but continuous geysers and colored pools with "stinky smoke" that Bailey didn't like. She kept saying, "It's really not poop," of the sulphurous smell. I had worried about her running around and had even had planned some kind of embarrassing harness thing with a rope or a dog leash maybe, but never went through with it. We told he she must hold our hands and stay on the path - always. She went us one better. She wanted to crawl into Grandpa's arms and be carried when we were near that "scary stuff." However, she was not at all afraid of the bison and elk and had to be physically restrained from running over to pet the pretty animals.

At night in the trailer she became nervous lying on her table-turned-into-a-bed. "But I want to go to Blackfoot and take a bath and watch a movie and go to bed." "I miss my mommy and I want to go to Pocatello and be with my mommy. I don't want to sleep in the trailer. I'm scared of monsters and worms." I validated her feelings, told her we would protect her from monsters and worms (who are all in Blackfoot under the ground), and proved it be sleeping beside her. She thanked me tenderly for this, stroking my cheek and telling me that I am her friend and she loves me.

On the drive home I gave her a coloring book and crayons, but soon things got too quiet. I unhooked, looked back,and found that she had used her tan pants as a coloring book. Happily, they came clean again. Daddy picked her up when he got home from his little trip and took her down to Mommy's house in Pocatello. So she got everything that she had wanted the night before.